A gene which causes narrowing of the blood vessels in the lungs is found to be overactive in pulmonary hypertension.
There are many causes for pulmonary hypertension - a condition where blood pressure within the lungs rises to a dangerously high level - including heart failure, adverse drug reactions, and heart defects. Some cases are genetic in origin. The only feasible treatment is lung transplantation.

Researchers at the University of California in San Diego have now found that a gene called angiopoietin-1 is involved in pulmonary hypertension, whatever the cause. This gene is normally only active in the embryo, where it helps to grow smooth muscle cells. This study found it to be active in lung tissue from 42 patients with pulmonary hypertension, where it was involved in a chain of events leading to the clogging up of lung tissue.

Interestingly angiopoietin-1 protein was found to interact with another protein called bone morphogenetic protein receptor which, in turn, is related to a molecule known to be defective in genetic cases of pulmonary hypertension. The research casts new light on the mechanism of this serious disorder and may, one day, lead to effective treatments other than transplantation.